Simon Gerada
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Men's Table tennis | ||
Representing Malta | ||
Games of the Small States of Europe | ||
2011 Liechtenstein | Doubles | |
2013 Luxembourg | Team |
Simon Gerada (born 20 March 1981) is a
2001 Commonwealth and World Table Tennis Championships Controversy
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (February 2023) |
In January 2001, Gerada returned to Australia. On the same day, he got a phone call asking him to go to a training session. The Australian Team was training for the World Championships and it was in Gerada's Table Tennis Australia contract that he must attend this session. However, after 2 hours he walked out citing that he "could not cope". This compromised his Commonwealth Games position and despite calls from the Victorian Institute of Sport that he should be allowed to represent Australia, the authorities did not back down. Gerada accepted the offer from his father to play for Malta instead.
In response to this Simon said "I'd been playing the sport for six years professionally, hard at it. And where had (Australia) been for the past five years, when were (they) feeding me? I was eating toast before my last league match because I was struggling with money," he said. "But at the age of 19 I came home and said I need a break … and they weren't there for me, the officials."
In
In 2010, he returned to representing
References
- ^ "Simon Gerada". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 July 2020.